ALBANY - Now that last weekend's first ever Big Pine Music Festival is a wrap, organizers say the festival might continue in future years but likely not in Albany, due to poor attendance.
Put on by Albany's ThreeForty Creative Group, Big Pine was envisioned as a two-day festival featuring close to 40 locally and nationally known artists that would hopefully grow into an annual event in Albany and serve as a showcase for a variety of up-and-coming, as well as established, talent across a variety of genres.
In order for that to happen, however, the company needed the first year to be somewhat of a success. According to ThreeForty's Justin Andrews, the promoters were hoping for attendance numbers around 2,000, which would virtually ensure a second year.
As it turns out, Big Pine attendance fell far short of that target despite what Andrews and his partner, Evan Barber, felt were very reasonable ticket prices and a diverse lineup. Early-bird tickets, which were still available as recently as 10 days prior to the event, were only $35 for the entire weekend, and after that weekend passes were $50, a single-day ticket $30.
'We really felt like it was affordable,' said Andrews. 'Folks spend $35 to take their families to a movie, so a weekend full of music for that is a good deal.'
In addition to the affordable ticket prices, Andrews said everything about the event went as smoothly as it could have. He noted the weather was good, there were no issues with sound or lights, and there were no incidents with crowds, three things that can make or break an event.
'We had no issues, no arrests, not a single problem,' said Andrews. 'The Albany Police Department was great. They get it. The city of Albany was extremely good to us. Local businesses really got behind us, too. As far as the festival itself, it was a tremendous success, according to the people who attended. Since it ended, I have gotten lots of emails, texts and phone calls from people telling me how much fun it was and how clean and well-organized. That's what we were hoping for. But we had a terrible turnout.'
Andrews estimates roughly 800 people attended each day of the festival, and with many of the same people coming Saturday and Sunday, attendance was nowhere near what organizers had hoped for, putting the festival's future in Albany in danger.
Without giving specific numbers, Andrews said it takes around six figures to put on a festival like Big Pine, and with last weekend's attendance numbers the company suffered a loss, which has the promoters looking at alternative sites for future festivals.
Andrews said the company has already gotten phone calls from other cities wanting to hold an event like Big Pine, and he said he thinks putting it on somewhere else is the only way to grow the festival into an annual event.
'We want to keep Big Pine going, and there's a lot of people who believe in it,' said Andrews. 'But we can't keep taking a beating. Right now, it doesn't look like we'll be doing it in Albany if we do it again. We're looking to move it.'
As for why Albanians didn't turn out, Andrews is at a loss.
'We do (festivals) at places all over the Southeast, and we wanted to do something in Albany,' he said. 'I don't why it is people in Albany don't support things. We wanted it so bad, and we couldn't even get support from our own town. Maybe it's festivals, I don't know.'
Despite Big Pine's future being up in the air, Andrews said ThreeForty has not given up on Albany and will continue to move forward with plans to produce one-off events and single concerts, which have proven to be successful.
He stressed, however, that even with single concerts, attendance will be critical if Albany wants to have larger acts come to town.
'A lot of the artists at Big Pine can draw 2,000 people by themselves in most places they play,' he said. 'When we can't get that many for the whole weekend to see 30-something bands, that's tough. Here we are trying to put Albany on the map, and nobody shows up. It's embarrassing.'
Entities 0 Name: ALBANY Count: 12 1 Name: Andrews Count: 9 2 Name: Justin Andrews Count: 1 3 Name: Evan Barber Count: 1 4 Name: ThreeForty Creative Group Count: 1 5 Name: Big Pine Count: 1 6 Name: Southeast Count: 1 7 Name: Albany Police Department Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1tR0Wb3 Title: Top 10 music festivals for winter breaks Description: Brittany, land of terrifying coastlines, proto-brutalist second world war defensive bunkers and an impenetrable regional dialect. During Transmusicales you can expect to be bussed past a rusting Sud Aviation Caravelle plane parked at the end of Rennes airport's runway and left at a warehouse full of cider-swigging, chain-smoking locals losing their minds to, among others, local indie heroes Gandi Lake from up the road in Caen.
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